Outside the WSOP Main and One Drop Events, PSPC Sets Record for Largest Live Poker Tournament

Total prize pool of $26.5 million makes it the 18th largest live poker tournament ever held.

Registration finally closed at the PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship at midday on Monday, and the numbers are official: In total, there are 1039 entries, setting new records for a high roller poker tournament.

With a $25,000 rake-free buy-in and $1 million added to first place, the total prize pool stands at $26,975,000. This makes it the 18th largest prize pool among live poker tournaments, and the largest $25,000 buy-in event.

Indeed, outside the iconic World Series of Poker Main Event and the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop charity tournaments at the WSOP and Monte Carlo, it is the largest poker tournament ever held.

The PSPC is almost three times bigger. In fact, even removing all the Platinum Pass entries, which amounted to $8 million injected into the prize pool, and the $1 million added to first place prize, the remaining players—all satellite winners and direct buy-ins—would still amount to over $17 million in prize money, still smashing both PokerStars’ and the $25k record.

With the added money, the first place prize will be $5.1 million—again, by far the largest prize PokerStars has ever paid out (and that almost certainly includes online games, including casino jackpots as well as the biggest online poker tournaments). It is among the 20 largest prizes paid out in live poker history.